Hey,
Choosing a University especially when it is abroad is a big decision. I am here to give some insight into living in England and the transition to a new culture. A few of my friends from home have been coming to England for study abroad programs, each of them have interesting and different impacts on their life. So let me introduce the first one to you:
Brenna is a Business Marketing student at Chapman University. She has been in England for a couple weeks now and tells us about her first impressions and experiences in the country. She chose to come to England because she “always desired to experience culture here, knew there wouldn’t be a language barrier, and it is just a great central location in Europe with so much to do and easy accessibility to travel to other places”.
I first asked her about the main differences that she has found between America and England. Brenna has started noticing the main differences such as the impressive public transportation system saying “everyone uses it and I am not used to that” and goes on to say that “it is very effective and easy and I am quickly learning to love it”. When I fly back to America, I wonder how people visiting get around. I have never used a train in America and barely use the bus. America is dominated by cars, while England offers many possibilities to see the country to best suit you.
When first coming to a foreign country it can feel like you are speaking a different language even if technically it is the same language. When I first landed I couldn’t properly understand people for two weeks! Brenna has already noticed this with simple things such as saying toilet instead of bathroom. She says “there are a lot of random things that have slightly different names than what I am accustomed to”.
Read about some other words that are different in an earlier English to American dictionary post:
https://blogs.surrey.ac.uk/usablog/2015/08/04/english-to-american-guide/
She has already started to explore this amazing country and seeing what it has to offer.
The things she is noticing make me laugh because I remember learning all these things for myself. It starts to become clear that the little things in society that are never thought twice about are different abroad. Brenna has come across a couple big ones when it comes down to settling the bill in a restaurant. England doesn’t tip the same way America does. I have come across people returning the tip I give them because they don’t expect a tip such as in taxis or at the hair dresser. The same rule can apply in a restaurant. Brenna points out that “People generally wouldn’t top over 10% and it’s not even weird if you don’t tip at all!”
Studying abroad allows the amazing opportunity to meet new people from all over. The British have a unique sense of humor. It is rather dry humor and very sarcastic. To get an idea of the humor watch The Inbetweers, Catherine Tate, or Faulty Towers. The British have their own name for the level of sarcasm they go to: banter. It can seem to me sometimes like a light level of bullying, but whenever I say something about it I always get the response that “it is just banter!!”. Coming from America and a different sense of humor, I had to change the way I interpreted banter. I find it much funnier now because everyone accepts it as just fun, nothing offensive. However, as Brenna says “the new humor definitely takes some getting used to”.
Read more about banter here:
https://blogs.surrey.ac.uk/usablog/2015/05/13/cheeky-nandos-and-banter/
Brenna has been having a rush of new experiences since she has landed. She loves how much there is to do and is “especially a fan of afternoon tea”. She has gotten a taste of what London has to offer where “musicals play every night and there are restaurants and great shops wherever you go”. With London only a train ride away from the University of Surrey incredibly easy to go to London and experience its full glory.
Finally, Brenna points out one of the great perks of Studying in England: traveling! I’ve said before and now Brenna reiterates “it is sooooo much easier to travel from place to place here than in the US and flights to Amsterdam or Ireland are so much cheaper!”
Read more about how I plan cheap trips around Europe:
https://blogs.surrey.ac.uk/usablog/2015/07/14/basics-for-traveling/
Brenna is still traveling around England now, and will be for the next couple weeks becoming very British 😉 She has already said that she would “absolutely suggest studying abroad to others” and that “it has been such an incredible learning experience so far!” Living and studying abroad is life changing and Brenna says she feels herself “growing so much through this and becoming much more independent.”
I found that I lived in a bit of a bubble at in America and never had the opportunity to gain a worldly experience. Brenna agrees by saying “it is just an incredible opportunity to develop a new perspective on the world, see new place, and experience cultures outside of our comfort zone! Being here has opened me up to a lot more diversity”. She feels positively impacted by the experience as she is “learning to navigate through an unfamiliar city, meet people from a different country, and just call a new place home!”
Next week I speak to Paige who studied abroad in England last year and shows us how it impacted her life.
Holly
